210 



THE AMEEICAN 



planted in this part of Missouri. It was the fate 

 of my first planting, and as long as people con- 

 sider $2.00 too much for your paper, and ento- 

 mology beneath their notice, they will have to 

 learn the truth from wofiil experience. I can 

 now, thanks to the teachings of the Entomolo- 

 gist, show trees as fine, smooth, and vigorous, 

 probably, as those of Mr. Wielandy ; though I 

 cannot say that I am free from the borer. 



[The young borers which escaped your vigil- 

 ance last summer wintered in a dormant state, 

 wMch accounts for 3'our finding them of the same 

 size either in early spring or late fall. — Ed.] 



Flock of Butterflies — Waxahachie, Ellis 

 county, Texas, 3Iarch 31, 1870. — During my 

 ramble this morning I happened upon a flock or 

 bevy of butterflies, known as Danais archippus, 

 Fabr., containing thirty individuals, four of 

 wliich I captured for the purpose of identifica- 

 tion, only two of which, however, I pinned dowii. 

 I find them to be of the genuine ar'chippus, iden- 

 tical in every respect, vdth specimens bred from 

 the caterpillar by myself last summer, except in 

 that of color, wMch is somewhat paler in these 

 captured this morning than it was in those bred 

 by me in the sununer. They have the appear- 

 ance of having been on the wing some days. 

 The interesting question is, do they hibernate in 

 the imago state, or in that of the chrysalis ? They 

 are wholly in advance of their larval food-plant, 

 Asclepias obtusi/oUa; and from my observations 

 upon the habits of the species, I infer that they 

 hibernate as chrysalids. Please give us the facts 

 as to the maimer and condition in which they 

 spend the winter, and oblige yours, respectfully, 

 L. J. Stroop. 



[They undoubtedly hibernate in the perfect 

 state, for we have often captured pale, faded 

 and worn specimens quite early in the spring 

 of the year. — ^Ed.] 



An anom.^lous Grape Sphinx Moth — Cov- 

 ington, Ky., April 19, 1870. — A friend yes- 

 terday gave me a badly battered specimen of 

 a Philampelus, which is such a curiosity that I 

 write to inquire about it. In size, and in the 

 size and shape of the markings, it is identical 

 with P. satellitia, as figured on page 90 of the 

 present volume of the Entomologist, except 

 that under the double discal dots of the anterior 

 wings is a very short and narrow longitudinal 

 dash. (Your figure has three small dots, but 

 all of my specimens of satellitia have only two, 

 although agreeing in all other particulars with 

 your figure.) But the peculiarity about tliis 

 specimen is, that a longitudinal line down the 

 center divides the insect so that all of the spots 



and patches on the right side of the thorax and 

 abdomen and front wing are light green, except 

 the one on the thorax at the base of the wing 

 and the large one on the hind margin of the wing 

 near the base, which are of a rich dark green, 

 not at all the color of P. satellitia, which I call 

 rather dusky than green. The spots on the left 

 side of the body and left wing are rust-red, vary- 

 ing to a light yellow drab ; that on the thorax at 

 the base of the wing, and that on the posterior 

 margin near the base, being darker than the 

 others. The line down the middle would divide 

 the band across the metathorax and first abdom- 

 inal segment into the same two colors. The 

 spots on the two sides of the abdomen also differ, 

 but not so glaringly. The hind wings are alike 

 except that the drab appears again at the poste- 

 rior angle of the left wing ; otherwise the Mud 

 wings do not differ from those of P. satellitia. 

 The gTound color of the left anterior wing is also 

 much lighter than that of the right wing. Both 

 antennre are missing. 



It is elearl)' not P. achemon or satellitia, as 

 figured by you ; nor P. Linnei, nor Lycaon, as 

 figured by Grote (Pr. Phil. En. So., Vol. V., pi. 3). 

 Indeed, the onlj' one of these for which it could 

 be mistaken, would be a hermaphrodite satellitia, 

 in wliich there had been a wide departure fi'om 

 the normal colors even on the right side. But 

 then I liave never heard that there is any difier- 

 ence as to color between the <? and $ satellitia. 

 A hole made by some insect in the side of the 

 abdomen shows that it is a female, for the abdo- 

 men is full of eggs. It was picked np dead bj- 

 some children last summer. What can you make 

 of it? V. T. Chambers. 



Food-Plant of Green Sprangling Slug- 

 worm— ^ZfeafteiA, Ind., March 19, 1870.— Tlie 

 green, oval, flattened object, with lateral, tooth- 

 like appendages, fiinged with hairs, the two at 

 the tail being longer than the others, and which 

 you say is an undescribed species of Limacodes, 

 or Slug-worm, sent you by me several weeks 

 ago, were found feeding upon the leaves of a tree 

 growing along the Ohio river and creek bottoms 

 in this country, known as the Sj'camore tree. I 

 have ascertained this since the specimens were 

 sent to you. Some of the specimens were much 

 larger than the one sent. 



Levi G. Saffer. 



Errata. — Page 152, column 1, line 21, for 

 "one" read "our." Page 163, column 2, line 6, 

 for "results" read "result." Page 108, column 

 1, lines 15 from top and 6 from bottom, for 

 "Alanda" read "Alauda,'" 



